Guy, seems some of you can't read, SEE POST # 15, I talked about fighting the fish and using a net.

I'm not sure how providing additional information indicates an inability to read.

All of the tips you provided in POST #15 ("Play the fish quickly, use a landing net , wet your hands, use barbless hooks, and use forceps.") had already been pointed out somewhere in the previous 14 posts so I'm not sure what the deal is here.

You and several others pointed out that a fish should be played and brought in as quickly as possible. I just thought a little more info could be provided on that topic.

"Handling properly" includes getting them back into the water before their gills or eyes freeze, which takes a little while unless it's bitterly cold, like Minnesota or Alaska cold.

Consider what happens to anything else out in the weather when temperatures are below freezing and it gets wet- like what would happen to the end of a scarf if it were dipped in a stream. It would freeze, but it would take some time to frost over at the typical temps of a Pa. winter- which are almost always above 0 degrees F (-18C).

But gill and eye freezing will happen eventually. And I would avoid putting the fish in the snow if possible, because I'm fairly sure that snow draws heat away much faster than cold air. (Consider that 35 degree water draws body heat away 20-30 times faster than 35 degree air. Snow is probably somewhere in between on that scale.)